Three things circulate inside my mind for this column. But where would any sports blog in Philadelphia be without first talking about the problems of the Philadelphia Eagles.

ITEM ONE. The Eagles have reportedly expressed interest in re-acquiring Nick Foles as their starting quarterback. This item is courtesy of ESPN’s insider Adam Schefter, who has been tweeting that the Birds are not that interested in putting a franchise tag on quarterback Sam Bradford and would rather try to go to war with Foles. To this I say, “Please God, no.” I don’t want to see Nick Foles anywhere near the Eagles practice facility much less as the starting quarterback next season. That ship sailed a long time ago. Foles wasn’t very good here, save for one fluke season, and was even worse with the St. Louis Rams, where he was benched in favor of Case Keenum. What in hell Doug Pederson sees in Foles is beyond me. But apparently the new Eagles coach likes him — which makes me question Pederson considerably. Read more »

Here’s what the local and national media are saying about the Eagles this week:

Sam Bradford has played well as of late, and with leverage firmly on his side, he will determine his fate as a potential free agent this offseason, writes ESPN’s John Keim.

By giving up Nick Foles and a second-round draft pick in 2016 for Bradford with no conditions regarding a contract extension, the Eagles surrendered any leverage. It was an oversight borne of Chip Kelly’s new role as de facto general manager and his broken relationship with ousted GM Howie Roseman.

At the very least, according to an NFL executive with experience in such negotiations, the Eagles had the opportunity to renegotiate the terms of Bradford’s 2015 contract. Bradford’s incentive to lower his salary would have been the opportunity to move on from St. Louis and avoid a trade to a less desirable team (the Cleveland Browns were also interested in Bradford, for instance). Read more »

The back-and-forth drama between Chip Kelly and LeSean McCoy, dormant for months since McCoy’s last comments about the trade that sent him from Philadelphia to Buffalo, was rekindled this week.

On Wednesday, McCoy told Philadelphia reporters in a conference call that he didn’t want to shake Chip Kelly’s hand before the Eagles face the Bills on Sunday.

Before Thursday’s practice, Kelly was asked about McCoy’s comments. Kelly launched into a two-minute spiel on what he believed went wrong with the trade this past spring, and why he understands McCoy’s point of view.

Below are Kelly’s comments, when asked about McCoy’s saying he didn’t want to shake hands.

The Philadelphia Eagles are giving the one-or-the-other argument plenty of ammunition in 2015. One moment the Eagles are getting plowed under in losses to the Detroit Lions or Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the next they’re beating the defending champion New England Patriots on the road. So the pendulum of opinion swings – Chip is the next Steve Spurrier, Chip is the next Jimmy Johnson.

Neither is a fair estimate at this point. Forty-five meaningful games have passed and it’s still too early to say what Kelly is, good, terrible or mediocre. Nearing the final stretch of his third season, Kelly has lived inside all three of those boxes. Determining which represents him best requires a larger sample size. And that means one thing at this point for ownership: making the correct determination on Kelly means letting this season and next play out.